Sporting Digest: Sailing

Both Mike Golding and Ed Danby in Team Group 4 and Ellen MacArthur, partnered by Yves Parlier in Kingfisher Aquitaine, were poised to take advantage of light winds which have caused some bunching of the monohulls in the Jacques Vabre Transatlantic race. With 600 miles to go in the two- handed contest from Le Havre to Cartagena, Colombia, Catherine Chabaud and Luc Bartissol still hold the lead in Whirlpool.

The Royal Yachting Association is to try and initiate a British challenge for the America's Cup. It is inviting interested clubs to a meeting on how best to progress. The challenger elimination races in the current Cup begin in Auckland on Saturday.